Elizabeth Ma, MSTP student and NORC fellowElizabeth Ma, an MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and a fellow in the UAB Nutritional Obesity Research Center’s (NORC) Pre-Doctoral Training in Obesity-Related Research program, is the winner of two national awards for her abstract titled “Urinary F2-Isoprostanes Do Not Reflect Oxidative Stress Operative in Human Insulin Resistance, but are Correlated with Lean Mass and Serum Lipids.”

The first award, sponsored by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), is 2nd prize for the annual abstract competition from The Obesity Society (TOS) Obesity & Cancer (O&C) Section in the category of Student Investigator. The O&C Section promotes the prevention and management of cancer – with a focus on how obesity affects cancer risk – as well as educational strategies to disseminate findings to both the scientific community and the public. Elizabeth will present her work at the O&C Section meeting held in Los Angeles on November 5, 2015, where she will be awarded by Dr. June Stevens, the AICR Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, along with the other winners.

The second award, also from TOS, is the Pat Simons Travel Grant for young investigators in obesity research, established by TOS past president, Barbara Rolls in honor of her late mother. This grant is for $1,000 and will be used for Elizabeth to travel to ObesityWeek 2015, which is The Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting, held on November 2 – 7, 2015, in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. Her research at UAB involves using microRNA and other biomarkers to better understand the relationship and pathophysiology behind Type II Diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and other diseases mediated through insulin resistance. Her other interests include aspects of herbal medicine, immunology, regenerative medicine and sports medicine.